One Man's Trash...

I was busy as a bee this afternoon playing with my Crafty Secrets Book Lovers stamps

 and an empty box....this is what I started with~

You've heard of these Breathe Right strips, haven't you? They are great to wear when you are sleeping with a stuffy nose, which I have had this week because of a cold. Anyway, the box was empty and a little lightbulb went off in my head...I loved how the box opened and had plenty of space inside. Space for tea. Space for chocolate! 

I love to read and so do many of my tea drinking friends...and for good measure, why not add a Ghiradelli bar? So, I painted the box with white acrylic craft paint and let dry. Then I covered all surfaces with Bo Bunny card stock.

Handsome Mr. Sheep...an avid bibliophile... sits propped up against a thick tome by C.S.Lewis. I used white flocking powder on the sheep so he is soft and fuzzy.

All sides have stamping along the edges, and the back has a chipboard oval in which I used 4 of the Book Lovers stamps together, as well as a metal heart brad~

I had just enough room to stamp two standing books on this side~

The top is stamped too. I stamped a small open book and used Glossy Accents to adhere a Tim Holtz fragment over it. The fragment looks like clear glass and magnifies the image~

Do you see what I see? Chocolate!

I even stamped the inner box with small books~

 I really have fun altering small boxes. Remember when I altered  empty chewing gum boxes College Girl regularly provides?

Before you toss that empty box, think about what little treat might fit perfectly inside!

Fun news! This 'Book Lovers' stamped and altered box is being featured on the current Crafty Secrets Heartwarming Vintage Blog

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It's Overflowing

Share Your Cup Thursday

ScrapbookPal.com Design Team entry~

You are my Cup of Tea

Valentine's Day is fast approaching. Didn't we just celebrate the holidays?! Well, I couldn't wait to create some special cards for some special people, so I got out a stamp I think is perfect for sending heartfelt wishes...a teacup!

I also got out my Distress Inks and Cutter Bee scissors, along with a vintage book page. I like to stamp with waterproof ink then color the image with Distress Inks and my Zig H2O pen.

I removed a page from the book, tore the edges, then inked them with an ink blending tool. Keep one side of the sponge applicator lifted (shown) as you use small circular motions to apply ink to all sides of your paper or page.

Here is the result~ I mounted the book page to graphic 45 houndstooth cardstock, then stamped random hearts on it.

I stamped Inkadinkadoo's Alice In Wonderland White Rabbit twice: once on white cardstock and once on Tim Holtz grungepaper.

I want the rabbit to have a nice white head and legs (he IS the White Rabbit, afterall!) so I will fussy cut the head and legs from the cardstock and adhere them to the painted grungepaper Rabbit. When I finished painting the Rabbit's clothing, I put some Stickles on his neck ruff.

I stamped the words 'Je Taime' and 'Amour' on a narrow strip of white cardstock, then placed it under a length of sheer white ribbon that I placed horizontally across the houndstooth card front.

I wanted to use a chipboard heart that coordinated with the card colors, so I used Broken China Distress Ink and misted  water to dye the piece.

Just smear Distress ink on a craft mat (or wax paper), mist it with water, then rub the chipboard around in the mixture~

I made a narrow slit in the teacup edge in which to slide the Rabbit. A Fiskars craft knife works well for this job.

All that is left to do is glue everything down~ I stamped a sentiment and wrapped a bit of bakery string around the edges. I also put a coat of Glossy Accents on the chipboard heart, then placed it on the saucer.

The teacup is mounted on foam to give it a bit of dimension.

    All ready for February 14! I think I will make another one :)

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sharing this post~ uncommon designs online

ScrapbookPal.com Design Team entry~

I have been having fun making cards with layered stamping and decided to use my Cricut and the Summer In Paris cartridge along with my inks and stamps. Instead of using my Cricut to cut out an image, I used it to draw one on the card front!

I replaced the blade with the Cricut Fashion Color Marker in pink to draw the Eiffel Tower.

I used light to medium pressure to draw the image, otherwise the pen presses too firmly onto the cardstock and the lines are heavier.

Voila! I love the swirly interior design. I had the machine draw a second image which I fussy cut with Cutter Bee scissors. I planned to use foam adhesive to mount the fussy cut Tower above the flat image later. I used a Stampendous Music Score stamp and Tattered Rose Distress Ink to stamp the sheet music over the Tower.

I also stamped 'Paris', a fleur de lis and a compass using Distress Inks. The next step was to add small red brads on either side of 'Paris' and distress the edges, then mount the piece to a small houndstooth print.

I like adding the fussy cut Eiffel Tower to give the card front added dimension~

I aligned a ruler along the edge of the blank card after I glued a vintage book page to it~ this allowed me to tear the excess off and give the card a deckle edge. I could not use a traditional method to distress the edges of the book page because it was old and fragile.

The finishing touch was to adhere a small red rose to the Eiffel Tower and stamp an inside sentiment~

I like the combo of various pinks and browns~

Five Golden Rings ....necked pheasants?

Well, we may never get to the bottom of this 12 Day Of Christmas song...some sources say it is a catechism carol, others say it was originally a French forfeits/memory game! I bet you think of jewelry when it comes to the 'five gold(en) rings', eh?

But some sources state that the five gold rings refer to five golden Ring Necked Pheasants! Charity Suthard writes,

"And on the fifth day, five golden rings. Finally, a gift that's not a bird, right? Wrong! The fifth day is not referring to the finger-adorning jewelry, but rather, to another type of bird, either the ring-necked pheasant or the goldspinks which is an old name for goldfinches. Even though, the song originated as five gold rings, it is often sung as five golden rings, because it flows better. In the religious aspect of the song, the five gold rings represent the Pentateuch which is first five books of the Bible's Old Testament also known as the Hebrew scriptures."

Ring Necked Pheasants or five gold bands, it is still a nice day leading to New Years Eve... and then eventually to January 6 which is Epiphany. And, it also gives us singers a chance to catch our breath!! ('five golden riiiiings!' Inhale! lol)

I had to chuckle when I read a blog post by BJ. She said her house is clean as a whistle and all the Christmas decor is packed away until next year....and it is still December! Wow, you go, girl! However, we have a tradition to keep Christmas decor out until Epiphany, the 12th Day Of Christmas. It is somebody's birthday here, and the grand finale of the Christmas season for us.

I made a New Years' card  today and couldn't keep away from my tea themed stamps~

I used~

• Martha Stewart corner/edge punches
• green Bazzill cardstock
• Stampin Up teacup
• white ribbon, inked pink
• Distress Inks
• black and white bakery string

Stamp Giveaway~

Pink Persimmon  is having a stamp give away. New sets of vintage stamps are up for grabs. Here is one set...go to their blog to see the others~

EDITED/UPDATED: I just found out I won 3 of the new Antiquated stamp sets! Can't wait to create some cards with them. Thanks Darcy and Lisa :)  

Enchanting Creations Magazine

The October issue of Enchanting Creations e-zine is ready to view! It is chock full of creative pieces and inspiration. This online magazine is part of the Flying Unicorn's website. My fellow Bella Creations' design team members, Starr and Helene, have pieces in this issue. Also, one of my 'Z' cards is shown this month. (page 52!)

I made a classic z style card from a blank greeting card by creasing the front section of the card and making three cuts to the right of the crease. All surfaces were covered in cardstock. I double matted a vintage image by Crafty Secrets and centered it in the crease.

When you open the card the image swings through the cut section. I used graphic 45 papers, a Little Yellow Bicycle button, Bazzill solid cardstock, and a Tim Holtz zigzag faux stitching stamp. 

Something Russian, something Rooster~

I had two goals in mind today...work on a scrapbook page and take some photos of the rooster items in our kitchen for Shelia's Rooster and Chickens Party. Sounds like fun, doesn't it? But don't worry, I will manage to sneak tea into this post, just you wait and see! lol! 

Yesterday my daughter and I took a drive to the newly relocated Tall Mouse craft store in Placentia. She wanted some beads for her current obsession of making bracelets (see previous post), and I had a 40% off coupon burning a hole in my purse!  I discovered a stamp set by Pink Paislee I had to have.

Isn't it cool? So anywho, today I printed up a photo and got to work on my layout. I work well with a energizing cup of tea, so I put the kettle on and made myself a cup of Kusmi's Troika Tea. What better to drink my Russian tea in than a beautiful Lomonosov teacup? (See, I told you I'd work tea into my story!)

Oooh, I love the deep cobalt color of this pretty teacup and saucer.

The blue is so deep it almost looks black in some lights~

The place where the cups sits is a crisp white and there are 5 gold roses spaced around the saucer~

The finish gleams~

How about a little something sweet? Fortified with tea and sugar, I completed my page. I did lots of stamping on this one~

I also placed the 'LOVE" letters on foam dots so they are raised~

 One of our neighborhood wild rabbits came to visit while I was doing my photo shoot outside. Earlier I had tossed a few carrots on the lawn hoping to discourage them from nibbling on the grass...it worked!

You are patiently waiting to see the roosters, right? OK, no more stalling!

We have rooster pads on the rush-seated kitchen chairs~

The lamp over the farmhouse table has three strutting roosters! Isn't he handsome?

I have a Brique Ware rooster pot which is glazed inside. I have never used it to prepare anything. Do you have any advice on how to use it?

This is the inside of the baking set~

And last but not least, I have a glass canister that sits on the counter that is filled with uncooked pasta~

 Have a great week~

I am sharing this post with:

Terri at Artful Affirmations
Marty at A Stroll Through Life
Shelia at Note Songs
Martha at Martha's Favorites
Kathy at A Return To Loveliness